Pelosi Says House to Revisit Climate Plan Based on 2009 Bill

by Ari Natter and Anna Edgerton (Bloomberg) Bill with cap-and-trade plan passed House but died in Senate; Comments come as Democrats return climate change to agenda — The U.S. House will take up climate legislation, including a measure based on a bill the body approved last time Democrats were in the majority, said Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

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While Pelosi didn’t elaborate, the measure that fits this description is the 2009 cap-and-trade legislation that narrowly passed by the House but died in the Senate, ….

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Consensus has been building over the past decade around an alternative approach: a tax on carbon with revenue distributed back to taxpayers. One approach advocated by lawmakers, including Florida Democratic Representative Ted Deutch, would apply a $15-per-metric-ton carbon fee to the U.S. oil, gas, and coal industries, but rebate all of the revenue as a dividend to households to shield them from increased fossil fuel costs related to the carbon fee. READ MORE

Excerpt from Poltico’s Morning Energy:Former Pennsylvania Rep. Ryan Costello said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that Republicans need a climate change strategy as younger voters who want to address the issue increasingly flee the party.

Costello announced he was joining Americans for Carbon Dividends as managing director, where he will try to build support for the still-in-progress Climate Leadership Council plan to tax carbon and return revenues to people as a dividend.

Costello spoke to ME about the state of the climate debate, saying he’s glad more people are discussing policy options, but that Democrats offer what he considers sub-optimal approaches based on more regulation and spending. Instead, he wants Republicans to offer a market-based concept that “envisions a zero-carbon future” like the one the Climate Leadership Council is pushing.

“I do tend to think that people oftentimes can say , ‘Tell me where the hole is, we need to be at least shooting at the green.’ … This gets us there more aggressively than any other plan I’ve seen and it does so in a way that I think is more practical than any other.” READ MORE